We'll make sure the water temp stays lower for sure. It's at 79 right now, so I'll try to again slowly bring it down to 77. It's been almost a week now that he has been battling this. I think it was Monday last week that this all started. What a trooper!

Tom seems a little worse today. Staying close to the bottom of his bowl, and not moving around as much. It doesn't appear that he as eaten anything yet either. I'm starting to think maybe it's time for the next step?

Tom seems a little worse today. Staying close to the bottom of his bowl, and not moving around as much. It doesn't appear that he as eaten anything yet either. I'm starting to think maybe it's time for the next step?

The temp has gone down slightly. I was going to raise the temp up to around 80F, but after reading the last few posts kept it down to 78F. The necrosis on his face seems a bit worse, not larger, just like more of the flesh has come off and it's more raw. He just seems a bit weaker, perhaps it was more because we had just turned his light on and he was still fish sleep mode?

I leaning toward saprolegnia. The lethargicness may come from the lower temperature but the important thing is did his open sore get worse? Try to lower it a bit more and if it gets worse then im pretty sure is saprolegnia since lower temperature should slow down columnaris. And normally the fish should be dead in 24 hours if the temperature is as high as 80. Fungal infection attacks slightly slower than bacterial.

Ok, I stopped at the LFS this afternoon. I hope this is divine intervention. I could just smack forhead. I picked up Maracyn instead of Maracyn 2. I already have E.M. Erythromycin which is the same active ingredient as Maracyn. I think I should start this treatment at least now because it's been a week and although he is not getting worse he is not getting better, and it seems to me that he is actually getting a bit more jumpy. Temp is sitting at 78F.
Should I try the next step?
Also, when I condition the water, do I still add the aq salt with the Erythromycin?